Book Review: Collin Kelley's Render

Render

Collin Kelley

76 pp., Sibling Rivalry Press

ISBN: 978-1-937420-34-5

$14.95

Collin Kelley’s latest collection, Render, is a masterful stroke of both political and socially relevant poems, where the poet uses his own life as a pop-culture touchstone for his generation’s most meaningful, shared experiences.  Among the plethora of significant events hit upon in this book are: First love, parents, infidelity, nostalgia, the movies, sexual icons of puberty, post-puberty, and the inherent confusion which lies within. And while I would say most people will find something to love within these pages, this book speaks directly to anyone who is part of the generation born between the late 1960’s up through 1974.   One poem after another breaks through the barrier of fuzzy memory and brings the reader immediately into the world of the poet.  Each poem strengthens its grip upon the reader and will not let go.  These poems will stay with you long after you have finished the book.

Collin Kelley is a genius when it comes to confession.  He teases you with brilliant titles and amazing opening lines.  Once he has you hooked, he delivers sucker punches and body blows like a prize fighter.  What is amazing is even after you are dumbstruck by a series of poems, your first instinct will be to read another poem, and another. 

Using the disillusion (and seeming dissolution) of the American Family, Collin Kelly presents a world so many of us from his generation know all too well.  We are the Post Atomic Age children, born of parents who participated or did not participate in the counter-culture of the 1960’s.  We are the first artificial, non-organic generation, and Kelley drives that point home by exposing the hidden narrative of his own family in some strange quiet crisis.

It’s difficult for me to choose any one poem to demonstrate the building of this narrative.  I can tell you there are no weak poems here, no filler.  Each and every poem is essential and I cannot imagine the book any other way than how Collin has constructed it.  Each poem captures with exacting precision not only the poet’s memory, the thing he must share, but the details of the world at large, making each accessible in the best way possible.  I do not mean accessible as in simple, because there will never be anything simple about Collin’s poetry.  No, accessible in the way everyone can relate to the stories he tells, because we all have memories tied to the events Collin ties his memories to. 

When Collin talks about his summer at the movies while his mother is having an affair, I immediately remember my adolescent movie experiences, but also the dysfunction of my own parents’ marriage.  When he talks about the Bicentennial in his poem, “Freedom Train,” it’s his details which jar a thousand memories loose from my past, causing me to wonder why I have lost so many.  When Collin talks about his early sexual encounters, especially with those boys who feel shame for their behavior, I am reminded of my own fumbled experiences early in my adolescence.

Collin Kelley succeeds with his poems because he is willing to face the truth of his past, confront the seeds which were sewn, resulting in the person he is today.  He succeeds because he does this when so many of us are too afraid to do these things for ourselves.  But even more so, Render is a tremendous book because it does not condemn in its confession.  It lays out the reality of the world without trying to make anyone feel guilty for their past.  It allows us to take from it and only wants us to share.

Antici . . . (Say it!) . . . pation

Because I am so awesome, I have decided to explore my future path to becoming the poetry world's next big thing, its new darling, the flavor of the month if you will.  It's inevitable, so all I have to do, according to my worn out copy of The Secret, is visualize each tiny step on the way to being the poetry world's next craze, where I am certain to join the ranks of Schomburg, Zapruder, Hicok, Meitner, Beasley, Dickman (Team Michael), and ____________________.  Come along with me as I lay out the road map to the respect and adulation of which I am imminently deserving.  Be warned, however; this is my road map.  If I catch any of you plagiarizing my pathway to celebrity, I will hunt you down and destroy everything you love.


Step one:  Write a manuscript.  No matter how distasteful it might seem, one must actually produce poetry in order to receive the praise of the poetry community.  Well, this rule applies for those as of yet to be inducted into the club.  Once established as a member of The Little Darling's Society, you can pretty much write your own ticket. where this is concerned, writing as little as is necessary to publish a 'New & Selected' book every five or six years.

Said manuscript earns extra points if you are a member of any of the following subsets of demographics:  Woman, Gay, Latino/a, any combination of non-Caucasian hyphenated American, live in NYC, came to poetry after earning or simultaneously earning a non-poetry professional degree, identify as a feminist (2nd or 3rd generation preferred), own exotic animals, once worked in a non-traditional occupation or career (see the year code for the approved list of non-traditional jobs), or lives with modified behavioral patters as displayed by three distinct personality quirks.

Status:  Done.


Step two:  Find a publisher.  Because my manuscript hits all of the hot-topic issues (19th Century Agrarian Mormon Landscape Meditation), finding a publisher was not really a huge concern of mine.  My biggest worry was how I was going to let down some of the publishing companies while still making them feel good about themselves.  I mean, Copper Canyon Press, in the wake of Sam Hammill's departure tends to get their feelings hurt when one turns them down.  Knopf and Harper Collins do keep up appearances, but etiquette dictates kindness and understanding.  Some might say go the contest route, but I have two reservations.  Contests are so 2007, and bidding wars can be really nasty.  the publisher one chooses must be humble enough to be outside of the box, yet a true work horse.  After all, they are going to carry one all the way to the top.

Said press earns extra points if it has an paradoxical, or whimsical name.  My Big Fat Poetry Press, Flat Line Trajectory Press, Socialist Tractor Press, Self Immolating Monk Press, etc., etc.  You get the idea, right?

Status: Done.


Step Three: Promotion.  As attention whores, most poets will find this step the most easy to perform.  However, there are a few guidelines.  A poet must never speak about his or her own manuscript.  Instead, enlist the help of friends and former mentors to create a buzz about the poet as much as the manuscript.  Promoting the poet is important because most poets are genuinely boring.  Most poets are for lack of a better definition, sloven, one track minded bores.  If you are going to be the poetry world's next big thing, you need to stand out, be seen as unique, wear one of the secondary colors for an entire year.  Mere blurbs, blogging and Facebook just don't cut it any more.  You need to get former professors, imminent poets, and previous flavors of the month to sing your praise in blurbs, on their blogs, and on Facebook.

Said promotion will go further if you can get any of the following poets to sing your praise:  W.S. Merwin, John Ashbery, Philip Levine, Mark Doty, Maxine Kumin, Marie Howe, Dorian Laux, Marvin Bell, or Naomi Shihab Nye.

Status: Done.


Step Four:  Video Trailers.  Do them yourself or have a friend do them, but by god, they work.  Nothing says "Too Cool for School" better than  a video trailer of your book processed with scratches and sepia tone to make it look all retro.  And if one is good, then fifteen must be better.  Go hog wild.  Well, go tofu wild because a lot of poets are vegan. 

Said video trailers will have more of an impact if they are contrary while remaining true to the overall thesis of your manuscript.  How do you do that?  Two words: Trailer. Park.

Status: In the works.


Step Five: Swag.  I know swag is on its way out, but that's why you need to use it.  You need to demonstrate your non-conformist tendencies by displaying your adherence to barely out of fashion trends within the poetry community.  The best swag will of course be ironic.  Now you have a decision to make.  Do you want to express irony with your swag in a "I know swag is out of style and that's why I am so awesome by giving you swag which is silly and funny" or, do you want to express your irony by saying "I know swag is out of style and as such, I will be making a commentary on swag itself by giving you authentic and genuinely nice swag"?

Said swag should never, under any circumstances, be an expression of the poets genuine investiture regarding the emotional state of the readers.  In fact, it is considered a plus if the poet demonstrates a continual state of mild irritation regarding the reader.

Status: Done.


Step Six: Wait.  After having followed every "rule" for becoming the next big superstar of the poetry world, simply sit back and wait for greatness to be thrust upon you.  Remember the cardinal rule of this phase of the game:  Let those around you do all of the worrying and so-called heavy lifting.  Poetry is about standing on the shoulders of giants and taking all of the credit.  No poet ever gets to be canonized by being a nice guy and being genuinely in love with poetry.  It's a poet-eat-poet  world out there, and poetry has taught us anything (and it hasn't) you owe the world nothing.  It's the world who owes you everything.

Status:  About to start.

* * *

You know, I am so close on so many of these things.  Boy, this fame thing is going to be a good move for me.  I am so happy I decided to be a poet.

Every Word My Last

Just now I was reading a book of poems by the late Ken Brewer, and I stumbled upon a strange thought.  Ken passed away when this book was about to be published, dying from pancreatic cancer.  While sad, that isn't my stranger thought.  My strange thought was wondering how long he knew this was most likely going to be his last book.  I have this thought on occasion.  The first time I listened to John Coltrane's Giant Steps, I wondered if he knew his death was 11 years away, what I would be doing 11 years before I died---if I had already done that.  Probably not, but that isn't my point.

I have always had a fatalistic approach to my writing.  As a young poet I am sure that helped to write many of the dark and teen-angst filled dreck I was writing at the time, but later it still serves me.  With every writing project I complete, I literally believe for a short while what I have just completed will be the last thing I ever write.  I don't mean to think so, and I hope I am not looking at the issue from a this is my legacy perspective, but I do.  I look at what I have completed and I cannot imagine anything ever coming to me with the same sense of renewal as my last project brought along.  I cannot perceive of anything being interesting enough to ever write a poem about.  In fact, for weeks and sometimes months after, I find writing poetry distasteful, too much effort, and quite boring.

That's not the model.  I am supposed to be passionate about writing, but in the wake of completing a manuscript, my writing suffers.  Even this blog suffers.  I lose interest and I become obsessed with seeing the final product of my efforts even though I don't have the energy I am supposed to have to work on it any longer.  Many of the poets I admire are writing two or three different manuscript at once.  Others have a slower pace to writing and simply write a few poems every year.  Still others write furiously every day as if their lives depended on finishing a draft or two every day.

Here's what I am wondering:  Do we share a fatalism only to express it in a variety of ways?  A friend of mine once said, "I have written thousands of poems, and I would give them all up to write another one."  That's devotion, as are the other habits I listed above.  I wonder if my fatalism is my way of making what I write count for something more. 

Some day I will want to write more poetry, but right now I am feeling a little ambivalent about not wanting to write.  I almost feel like a traitor, a liar, and a fraud all wrapped into one because I am not writing poetry.  Having been through this several times before, I know I really won't be interested in writing poetry until I become genuinely afraid I have written my last poem.  Even then it will be a struggle to get back up on the horse.

Getting This Started

My book is supposed to be coming out this summer, so now is the time to stat setting these things up.  I do not find this work tasteful, but I see both its worth and its effectiveness, so on to the publicity.  I want to do this book release the right way.  I am finished hiding my light under a bushel.

I am looking for anyone who might be interested in having me come out to a classroom to do a reading and workshop.  I am also looking for people who might be willing to conduct interviews with me.  Primarily I am looking to make readings happen within Utah and Nevada, and interviews anywhere I can.  Why Utah and Nevada?  Because there is a much stronger possibility I can make this happen money-wise if such events are local.  So if you, or anyone you know needs a guest reader/poet for a class or two, please get in contact with me or pass along this information.

To be honest, I am more than just new to this sort of thing, I am a newborn infant in this world.  This is my second full length book, but I have never tried to schedule this sort of thing, and that's why I am asking all of you for help.  I need to get out there and get past my fear of asking for help when it comes to promoting my work and my value as an artist.

Places I can get to in Utah within a day or two:

In Utah, I can get anywhere along the Wasatch Front same or next day, guaranteed.  I can go as far as Cedar City and St. George by the next day, and I am willing to do the reading and workshop for what essentially amounts to gas money.  I have the ability to take days off from work (with over a semester's worth of sick leave) and I am willing to do so.

I must admit I fantasize about somebody wanting me to fly across the nation to participate in a reading and run a workshop.  I know that is as likely to happen as winning the lottery, but I need to put it all out on the table.  If anyone knows a guy who knows a girl who has a professor friend who is coordinating a reading series, I am interested in hearing about it.  Again, without any university affiliation of my own, I know this is not very likely.  Here then are some things about me to keep in mind.

My strengths:

Poetry of place.  Haibun and haiku.  Landscape meditation.

Where I would like to do my thing:

Anywhere, really.  I am willing to read and conduct a workshop from colleges all the way to middle schools.  Historical Societies and community workshops are right up my alley.

When:

Ideally I would like to get things set up in the Fall, but I am willing to get going to non-academic settings in the summer as well.

____________

How is this supposed to work?  On the contact page you will find my e-mail.  Simply pass on my information to who you know, or pass on their information to me.

Easy.

Rebel Rebel

Today's mini-rant is all about being a rebel.  As a high school teacher, I see kids trying to express their individuality on a daily basis, and with a very few exceptions, they are all miserable failures.  When I point this out to them I almost always immediately get a quizzical look, revealing they don't understand what it is to be a rebel.  Next, they give me that defiant look that says, "Hey!  I'm unique.  I am a rebel."  That's when I finish their sentence with: "Just like all of your friends."  It takes a few seconds, but most catch on to the strange predicament they have walked themselves into in the attempt to set themselves apart from the crowd.

The poetry community is much the same.  Yes it is.  Think for a moment.  Most of us, while many have their own voice, still fit within the confines of the cliched box.  We are terrified of that box, and many of us believe being poets sets us apart from the crowd, but we are in fact, simply trying to be different, just like all of our poet friends.  I don't excuse myself from this distinction.  I want to be perfectly clear what I am going to be talking about for the next few paragraphs in no way excuses me from the status of sheep or lemming, or mindless poetry zombie---pick your image.  I am different, just like all of my poet friends.

Thin about it.  On Facebook, how many of your so-called friends are poets?  How many of those poets talk about being published and talk about writing issues and being rejected over and over?  How many of them (us) toot our horn when we get a really good acceptance, or have a book taken by a publisher?  How many of us play the same corporate game of poetry we see everyone else playing?  More?  How many poets out there do you know of who are true rebels?  I mean the kind who truly go against the grain.  I can think of a couple.  Bill Knott comes to mind, and I am certain if I was to put a few minutes of serious thought to it I could name a hand-full more. 

Now put that in terms of how we support poetry.  How many people talk about how difficult the contest system is in the poetry world, but day after day and week after week, keep sending in their manuscripts to contests because of some secret desire they have to be able to put that in their bio?  I know I struggle with it every day, or most every day.  Hardly a day passes where I don't wonder what it would be like to be the poetry world's little darling or flavor of the month, to have my poetry accepted by some of the name journals, to have "winner of the ________________ contest for emerging poets.  I am being sincere.  I want these things and I am not certain how to feel about them or the fact I want them.

For years I have been urging people to support poetry presses by other means than entering contests.  Contests are so limiting.  It is my belief they literally stifle the creativity in poetry.  The entire poetry community is homogenous if your sample pool is wide enough, but I am not speaking of all of us fitting into a mold we can all recognize.  I am talking about expectations.  If all we do is envision the contest system as our means of book publication, we begin to move towards that which we think will win contests.  Isn't it already bad enough inside our heads as poets?  In my head I am constantly hearing my own little private radio station, passages and lines continually drifting in and out of earshot, and I ignore most of them, waiting for me to focus in on what I think poetry is.  It's my own little censor, but what if the poetry I ignore or am perhaps too fearful to write down is a new direction calling to me?  I think it's the same with poetry at large.  For the most part, too many poets are shaping their language to their perceptions of what they see going on, allowing what has come before to have too much of an imprint on their own poetry. 

I don't mean this to be a condemnation, just an acknowledgement, an idea of what I see happening.  I am continually blown away with the beautiful words from so many poets.  But if I am truthful, I see a lot of poetry that is trying to be the same thing, even if that same thing is trying to be different like all the other poems out there.  I certainly am not free from this reality.  I still write to please too many people.  That is, too much of what I write is written trying to please more than myself.  I just happen to think if more poets would go around the contest system, we would see a lot more diversity in poetry---even more than we see now. 

Of course, that diversity comes at a cost, because we poets need to support presses by buying books, and not just books written by our friends.  We need to buy books which constitute a risk.  I have bought many books I do not like.  I have purchased books by poets who write in a voice and/or style I will never write in, and I do so willingly.  I have said it before, but one of the things I admire most about Ron Silliman, even though we write nothing alike, is his willingness to read almost everything and anything.  He buys books and reads.  He rarely gives out praise and that's fine, but I respect his opinion because he reads the poetry I like, and he reads the kind of poetry I write.  he may not ever like any poem of mine, but he dares to take up the banner and march forward.

So, rock on with your poetry, but let your wallet do the heavy lifting and make a real change.  Be a rebel.  Be like me.

post-Acceptance Daze & a hot topic issue

For the past few days, I have been floating around in a little bit of a fog.  Having my manuscript taken and the contract mailed off, I feel as if I have very little I want to accomplish.  A lot of my writing, in this blog and elsewhere, seems to have tapered off.  I wrote one series of haiku, which might make an interesting chapbook project if developed, but other than that, I have been is a slight state of bliss.

I think my post title is appropriate, if for no other reason than it happens to be accurate.  I feel floaty and light headed knowing my manuscript is going to be a book.  I feel a little weak in the knees because I really believe I and my manuscript are a good fit with Aldrich Press and Kelsay Books (previously linked).  I am not empty or void of inspiration, but I cannot see myself writing right now, and I think my good mood is responsible.  I am not saying I write when I am miserable, but rather, my happiness is blocking my view.  I cannot see the things I want to write because I am content.

* * *

Lately, I have been spending my time on Facebook dealing  with conservative reactionaries, regarding gun control.  They paint all liberals as demagogues trying to take away their guns, and they use post hoc ergo propter hoc to try and frighten people into agreeing with their perspective regarding gun rights.  For the record, and I try to make this every time I respond to them, I am a President Obama lovin' liberal, a gun owner, and a supporter of the 2nd Amendment.  Do I think we as a nation need to re-think our position on gun control? Absolutely.  I think we need to have more individual registrations and criminal/psychiatric background checks.  Want to own a gun?  Then get licensed by the state, and be required to have it renewed every four years.  Make that license have classes, just like a driver's license, which states what kind of firearms a person can own.  Be required to take courses and proof of gun liability insurance.  Require gun dealers to confirm, with photo ID and background checks that they are selling guns to responsible, sane people.  Eliminate undocumented straw sales at gun shows, and make those selling at gun shows be licensed dealers or register for a special permit to sell firearms at gun shows.

What I think we don't need:

Guns in schools.  There are simply too many unanswerable questions and too many issues of liability to think having more guns in schools is the proper answer.

Hobble Creek Almanac Accepted for Publication

It is with great pleasure I announce my manuscript, Hobble Creek Almanac, has been accepted for publication by Aldrich Press, and imprint of Kelsay Books.  I don't have any specific information as to when the book will be available for sale, but I can tell you I have received, reviewed, and signed the contract for publication.  HCA will be my second full length book, and the third full length manuscript I have written. 

To be sure, I was thrilled to hear the news because of all my books, this one felt the most difficult to defend as a manuscript.  Not on a poem to poem basis, as I know all of the poems from the book are what I want them to be, but on the level of manuscript, the subject matter is a hard sell.  To refresh your memory, the book begins in 1850, with the settlement of Springville, Utah.  The book's first third concerns itself with the establishment of a Mormon Community.  The second section takes as its subject the life of a real resident of Springville, who lived from 1886-1969.  In this section I create a series of persona poems.  The third section is a first person narrative of the important ideas and places within the same town.  Where my book Town for the Trees was pure elegy, this section attempts to give explanation, some sense of why Springville is important to me.  Having a press take it so early on removes a giant weight from my shoulders.

That the book was taken is also evidence of doing my leg work.  I knew this book would not, could not win any contest.  Well, unless there happened to be a poetry contest for a collection of poetry written about the settlement of the west and/or Mormon pioneer history/19th Century Utah inspired pastoral poetry.I had four places to submit this manuscript (a fifth one would not respond to any of my queries) before this book would have to be shelved.  I am not exaggerating.  I knew going into this project the chances were slim at best this manuscript would ever become a book.  In other words, I got lucky.

Some things I do know ahead of time:

1.  The book will be available on Amazon

2.  The book will be $14.

3.  If you want a copy, I would prefer you buy it from me or through Aldrich Press (though if you buy it through me you are sure to have the book signed and get some extra goodies).

4.  This is only the beginning.

Writing in 2013

I never thought I was one to write prose, but with the completion of my latest manuscript (Hobble Creek Almanac) and beginning the submission process, I really don't want to expend my energy trying to write new poetry right away.  So, instead of trying to turn off my need to write altogether, I decided to redirect my writing energy into a prose project.

I had a choice when it came to choosing something new to write, and I certainly did not want to simply try to write about poetry.  Not only is that cheating in some ways, literary criticism is exhausting work for me.  Besides, there are plenty of poets out there willing to talk about poetry, telling the world why one poem succeeds and why another fails.  So I chose the other area of competence in my professional life to write about.  I am in the beginning stages of writing a book for prospective and new teachers.

The book I have envisioned and have started to write is one of an informal, conversational tone.  Too many books in my opinion within the education community talk from a place f authority.  Sort of Listen to me because I have a doctorate in education.  Well, one of the things I never really liked about the people teaching me in my master's program was the amount of time they actually spent in a classroom (either at the elementary or secondary level) before moving on to teach college and prospective teachers.  Many of them were only classroom teachers for 4-5 years, and by the time they begin to teach new teachers, they have been out of the classroom for another 4-5 years.  Still, they act as if nothing ever changes and for the rest of their careers, they are teaching as if time has stopped.

You see, I have a few ideas about teacher ed programs.

1.  Universities should encourage their education departments to be filled with a faculty who have taught at least 15-20 years in the public school classroom.  Instead, they require only 3 years experience.  Instead, they are worried about their terminal degree percentages.  A few things:  Teachers who want to get out of the classroom after three years are the teachers you don't want teaching prospective teachers.  Teachers who have 15 years experience in the classroom are vastly more suited to teach prospective teachers, regardless of a Ph.D.  They are the teachers who will tell the next generation of teachers what to realistically expect.

2.  Universities should work with content area departments to teach the methods courses, first locating teachers with real life classroom experience.  It always amazed me the man who taught me methods of teaching social studies was a professor who was brilliant, but had never actually taught high school.  That's right.  A professor of English, or history, or biology, can actually teach the methods course without actually having any teaching experience in the public schools system.  As yourself what method do most professors use to teach.  If you answered "lecture" you are absolutely right.  The fact is while lecture has it's place, and I use it a lot, it cannot be the extent of the method a teacher uses in the classroom.

3.  The majority of focus education programs have in fostering new teachers should be in the areas of classroom management, varied instructional  methods, and effective lesson planning.  I don't know where I would have been if I had not been in the army before I became  teacher.  My university gave me one classroom management class, and I know they have a lot of ground to cover, but my course focused on seating charts, creating a syllabus, and time management.  We read a chapter or two about different theories of discipline, but it was little preparation for the vast array of issues a new teacher faces in the classroom.

4.  University Education faculty should be forced to co-teach with a classroom teacher one semester every five or so years to refresh themselves with the realities of the classroom.  And I don't mean mentor a new teacher in the classroom or supervise a teacher.  I mean co-teach.  Plan lessons, lecture, create learning activities, write and grade assignments.  Everything.

* * *

I have written just under 10,000 words so far, and I plan to write between 40-50,000 word in total.  Right now I am writing the framework of the chapters.  I am going to insert anecdotal evidence in the various chapters and do my best to reinforce the conversational tone.  I envision a short book prospective teachers can read as part of their own curiosity rather than as part of some kind of curriculum.  I want to eventually set it up as a Kindle Edition through Amazon and sell it really cheap.  I want new and prospective teachers to hear about what really happens in a high school without theory getting in the way.  I want new teachers to be able to have some advice as o what will help them to avoid many of the pitfalls which are waiting for them as they enter the schools.

That's what I am doing right now.

Miscellanea

Right now I am trying to put a lot of things into context.  This past week there has been a lot of death, dying, debate, heated arguments, and the like.  I am not entirely certain how I am supposed to be reacting to all of it.  I have stated some of my thoughts and opinions on Facebook, but that isn't the end of it---I really think tragedy lingers longer than all of that, and so I am left with not quite knowing who to talk to, or even what to say. 

I am sad.  I am angry.  I want a lot of thongs to simply go away or pretend they don't know me any more, because I am tired of them coming around again and again.  I want to play the "I don't know you" song to so many friends it frightens me, all their belly puffing and posturing, their lack of humanity.

Here is this.  It's a meme passed on to me by Collin Kelley.  I am not good about picking on other bloggers and asking them to post on this stuff, so I send it out to all of you---any of you who thinks these questions are thought provoking.  I think I was supposed to wait a week before posting my answers, but to tell the truth, I wanted  distraction for a few brief moments, so I went ahead and answered the questions now.  Here you go:

What is the title of your book? 

The book I just finished writing is going to be called, Hobble Creek Almanac.

 

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? 

Hobble Creek Almanac is the close examination of how a small Utah town evolves and progresses through its 150+ year history.

What genre does your book fall under? 

Poetry.  However, I am trying to blur the lines between factual events and reporting of those events.

Where did the idea come from for the book? 

I got my idea from writing my first two chapbooks, which became the nucleus of my first full length poetry collection.  I had written about the landscape and maintained an elegiac stance in those poems.  I became aware I wanted to write about other people and their reaction to the land, and the best way to do that was to approach first from a historical perspective before moving again into personal narrative.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript? 

I would say about 18 months in real time, though the idea has been fumbling around my head since 2008, when I finished my first book’s final edit.

Who or what inspired you to write this book? 

William Kloefkorn, David Lee, Gary Short.

 

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? 

I really have no idea.  19^th Century Mormon-themed Landscape Meditation/Narrative hybrid isn’t an easy sell.  I have about four places I know I am submitting to.  If none of those places take it, I will have to re-group, which may take a year or so.  I will not enter in any contests, as my money would be wasted and I much prefer to support presses by buying books, so it may end up self-published.  I know the poems are solid, so I will worry less about the dying stigma of a self-published book.  I worry more about my lack of good editing skills than anything.

What other works would you compare this book to within your genre? 

I go for the biggies.  I think (or I would hope) my work resembles David Lee, William Kloefkorn, and the like.  I read a lot of Wendell Berry while structuring the manuscript, and one can only hope some of that rubs off.

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie

rendition? 

I wouldn’t.  I would trust the director to cast the movie with the right people.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Footnotes.  Awesome, right?

Books I have been Re-reading

Queen of a Rainy Country   Linda Pastan

Traveling Light    Linda Pastan

The Singing Knives    Frank Stanford

Why Dogs Stopped Flying    Kenneth Brewer

Book Review: Seth Brady Tucker's Mormon Boy

Mormon Boy

Seth Brady Tucker

66 pp., Elixir Press

ISBN: 978-1-932418-43-9

$17

When I purchased Seth Tucker’s Mormon Boy, it was for a few obvious reasons.  I am Mormon, or used to be depending on who’s telling the stories, and I saw this title under a new releases list.  I was correct in that nobody names their poetry book thus unless he or she happens to have, or have had some connection to the Mormon community.  Seth has that connection, but when I found out he was a veteran of the First Gulf War, I was taken aback.  To have found a poet with similar connections to both Mormonism and the Army was like finding a long lost brother.  And while I identify with the poetry on those levels, I have no doubt any reader could just as easily find common ground on which to relate to this book.

Seth Tucker’s writing is expansive.  I do not merely means he writes about a lot of different subjects and covers a lot of ground, I am also talking about the physical world which his poems inhabit.  The book itself is larger than the typical poetry book because his lines are at times quite long, and receive the treatment they deserve by way of a larger presentation.  It is in these long lines where the reader begins to explore the expectations of Seth Tucker as author.  Here reside the complete thoughts of line, whole statements which refuse to be trimmed or wrangled into a false format simply for the sake of conformity.

In section one of Mormon Boy, Tucker takes on his experiences in the army and in the First Gulf War.  In a fine contrast from the poetry of Brian Turner, Seth has allowed time to permeate his memory and descriptions of his experiences.  The edges are softer than Turner’s war poetry, but in that softening come added wisdom and the wider net life after combat provides.  Neither one is superior in my experience, simply different.  Here in Mormon Boy, the reader will find more avenues by which to enter into the heart of the matter, and perhaps learn with a gentler touch.  This isn’t to say Seth’s poems about war have no impact.  Take these opening lines of the first poem of the book:

The Road to Baghdad

Is less a road than a floral

collection of spongy and soft

bodies, a gathering of the myriad

colors of nations—burnt umber,

puce, kiln red, olive drab, hot

steel.  It is a road that stretches

eternally into the ochre mocha

of horizon.  The road

to Baghdad has its own atmosphere

The reader must take on quite a lot in this first poem.  In that way, it mimic’s the soldier’s experience, being forced to take in a massive amount of information in an instant, making split-second decisions.  In those first three lines, there are several major decisions being made about content, image, line, and sound which Tucker commands so well as to make his choices seem casual.  Upon closer reading, it slowly becomes evident something more immense, more deliberate is taking place.

This deliberate series of choices comes through again in the long poem, “The Cold Logic of Farm Animals,” where Tucker creates a poem which defies homogeny.  Each new section takes on a different form, a different cosmetic appearance.  The stories are varied and dissimilar, but always keep the reader in rapt attention.  The section ends with a long prose poem which delivers the impact one almost shamefully wants when reading about war.

Section two turns lyrical, and we get to read about a great many different things.  That my favorite poem from this section is, “How to Look West From Mount Pleasant, Utah,” should not be a surprise to anyone.  There is something deeply elegiac in this poem which makes me think of my home town, which is not far from Mount Pleasant, Utah.  Of course, the poem is less a tutorial than it is an apostrophe, and hopefully (at least I hope) the poem is a way of talking to a much larger world. 

When I read the title poem, both of the third section and of the book,“Mormon Boy,” I am immediately mindful of the poet William Kloefkorn.  Not since Kloefkorn’s creation, Ludi jr., have I see a portrait of a young boy done so well.  The poem is masterful in its ability to draw the reader into the microcosm of a small boy’s world, both amazing and frightening.  I must here admit I identify with this poem on a deeply personal level.  On the surface, the poem is about a small boy on a paper route in winter, trudging through the snow, the duality of youthful indiscretion and knowing right from wrong.  But here, as everywhere else in this book, the poem is really a deeper discussion.  In the poems I can of course see the Mormon culture revealed, demanding hard work and commitment from even the youngest of children to a belief system they can hardly comprehend.   I see what will become the transition from this Mormon boy at age six, into something wholly different as he becomes an adult.  I begin to route for the little boy, and hope he makes it out intact.

In the final section of the book, Seth Tucker is triumphant.  The poems on this side of the book present a man who had survived to adulthood, in spite of the war he fought, and his previous fears that he has been fooling those around him.  There is elegy here, but rather than elegy setting the tone of this section with bright, silver cloud moments, it is the opposite.  There is a life to celebrate here, with the gentle reminder of occasional sadness.  We read about Tucker’s wife, Olivia, his passion for her, and we don’t get the feeling he is simply writing a poem for his wife.  The poems in this section reveal a sensual energy.  They are alive, knowing, and reveal how deliberate the orchestration of this book has been.   

These poems on the whole, present a biography of sorts.  I am reminded of Quentin Tarantino discussing how he orders the storyline in a film.  He says he doesn’t believe in flashbacks, that his ordering is his attempt to tell the story in the most interesting way possible.  Seth Tucker has done that here.  Beginning with the First Gulf War, Tucker is telling us he has essentially had three lives.  There is his life before the war, his life in the war, and then his life after the war.  The structure is easy to follow throughout the first three sections, but as with the format choices Tucker makes with many of his poems, the fourth section is a delightful wild card, which we must readjust our expectations.  The book works in and for all three of his lives as biography, place, time, and as a document of meaningful and visceral experience.  Seth Tucker has indeed contributed significantly to several themes and genres of writing with this single volume of poetry. 

Tucker lets the reader in on some of the most intimate aspects of his life and gives record as to how the world has shaped his growth. Every poem is a lesson which sparks insight into these contemporary times. While this book is an individual record, there is no doubt in my mind you will find a place to connect.

Finished.

I am proud to announce I have officially closed the book, literally, on my latest manuscript.  I am finished, all in, at the end of the road, spent, whole, and complete.  At 80 pages, this marks the end of my writing and 95% of all my editing responsibilities.  That remaining 5% will be the kind of fixes I see during the submission process and consist mostly of fixing awkward tenses or a misspent comma.  As the manuscript takes to the internet and the publishing world, I now send it off feeling as if everything which needs to be there is there.

* * *

Some numbers for those who think of such things:

I have, as of today, submitted poems from this manuscript 44 times to 42 different journals.

I have, as of today, had 19 poems from my manuscript accepted for publication.  This marks a record for me in my best publishing year so far.  19 poems in 8 different journals. 

The manuscript, with all end matter, clocks in at 80 pages, 46 poems, and 3 sections.

I have been actively writing this manuscript for approximately 18 months.

* * *

I have exactly four places to submit this manuscript to before I have to start looking around for more places.  I want to keep the batches small, not out of superstition, but because I would rather take my time sending it out into the world, and only to the places I think would really enjoy reading my manuscript.  I have already told you I will not be submitting to any contest, and I am going to stick to my guns.  No contests.  I really think my pathway leads in other directions.  There comes a time when we need to stand firm on an issue, and this one is mine.  For me, contests are a bad idea right from the beginning.  I would rather buy a book from a small press and be entertained with said book, than sit at home anxiously waiting for bad news.  And that's exactly what it would be.  I would be sitting around obsessing over semi-finalist and finalist lists, wondering who might be reading my poetry, which celebrity judge would be making the final call, and hating myself more each day.Researching individual presses suits me.  I am more than willing to pay a reading fee to a press I believe in and have spent some real time looking into and still coming up with nothing than I am entering any contest for free.  I do not think other people are bad for entering contests.  I am simply saying I am not built to handle that kid of stress.  

Time for me to go.  I will be certain to keep you updated as to how things go.  You will be among the first I tell anything.  I promise.

In A Perfect World

In a perfect world, this would be the cover  photo to my book, Hobble Creek Almanac.  Featured in the photograph is the Blanchard Family.  On the left is Achilles Blanchard, who figures prominently into my book.  To his left is his father, Achilles Blanchard; his mother, Margaret Sylvia; and then his grandmother Margaret, who lived to be 106.  At his feet is a harp he made from a bicycle frame.  Both Ether (the father who played violin) and he were known for writing poems and songs.  The front portion of cabin in the background was actually moved from the Salt Lake Valley to Springville, and purportedly was the second cabin built after the Mormon arrival.   

One New Thing

Something I have noticed with my writing, the poetry manuscripts I have written, is that for each one, something new happens.  For my first book, Four Way Stop, it was the realization that I was actually writing a book.  In fact, I knew I was writing a chapbook---not a full length book.  For my second book, I was attempting to make the landscape the protagonist.  ---And so on.  With each book, I do something new.

Well for this book, I am also doing something I have never done before.  I am submitting poems for publication after the book is finished.  Now I am still making minor changes to the manuscript and to some poems here and there, but I am probably 98% finished, and it is only in the past little while I have been submitting the poems from this latest manuscript for consideration.  I don't know if anyone else has worked like this, but it is an odd sensation for me, knowing I have a manuscript finished and knowing most of the poems themselves are finished, but waiting until now to see if they are things other people will find interesting. 

And I have found publication for some, approximately 13 poems so far.  However, the anxiety I feel now over the poems I have making the rounds is a little different.  The poems are essentially finished, and where I might have had the chance to throw out a poem that is not working or start over, I am less prone to make that decision because I see the poem in its current state as something much more solid, immutable. 

I don't know if that is a good or bad thing, either.  You see, I have never been very good at telling my good poems from my bad poems.  If a poem gets finished, I am pretty happy with it because it survived my process of drafting, tinkering, explosion, and rebuilding.  It has made it through the gauntlet, so to speak.  I love my poems almost unconditionally, which is a little brazen, and certainly not always the wisest of all behaviors.  Poems can be dangerous if we love the wrong one too much.  The wrong poems can cloud our vision, warp our perception, make us snow-blind to our own faults, which certainly happens to me all too often.

So I hope this pattern of having written the entire manuscript before submitting poems for publications will be a one-off, or at least take an unspecified hiatus.  I want to go back to gathering momentum as I go.

My November 6th Political Post

A few months ago I made a promise to stop posting anything political on Facebook until Election Day.  Tonight, on the eve of the election, I have a few things to say, and I will be posting this message to Facebook first thing in the morning.  I hope my Facebook friends, both liberal and conservative are willing to read, and possibly share what I am about to say.

1.  I am voting for Barack Obama, and regardless of who wins, people in this nation should be okay with that, regardless of who they voted for.  I am not an idiot for voting my conscience and political ideals, I am an American.  More than that, I am a citizen of the United States of America.  I am a history teacher in a public school.  I served this nation in the U.S. Army, and I am a veteran of the First Gulf War.  I challenge anyone to question my patriotism or devotion to the ideals of this nation because I voted for Barack Obama.

2.  I read just now, how Billy Graham published a political statement where he urges Americans to vote for the candidate who espouses the idea of so-called traditional marriage and family values.  With all due respect to the Reverend Billy Graham, I too, believe in God, but here I must differ with him on this issue, as with many others.  Setting aside Graham's flip-flop regarding Mitt Romney and Mormons (of which I am), I disagree with his interpretation of God and Jesus.  The Jesus I learned about in Sunday School in the Mormon faith was the Jesus of Love, the Jesus of Justice, the Jesus of Compassion.  Marriage is a right duly granted to some in this nation, but not to others, and I think it's a gross injustice to allow something as highly subjective as the Bible determine for citizens of a nation which was founded on the principles of freedom, free from the constraints of religion, to define (and thereby deny) marriage. Either we are a nation interested in liberty, or we are not.  Reverend Graham concluded his statement with praying we remain one nation under God, but that motto was only instituted during the Communist Scare of the 1950's.  It was not any part of our official or original National vision.  I personally pray and work for a nation which considers all citizens entitled to the same rights and privileges as everyone else. Either we believe our Constitution was written with the intent to change with the needs of its people, or we do not.  Civil Union is not Marriage, and as long as marriage is denied to the people of this nation, then I cannot in good conscience take seriously any candidate who thinks denying marriage is okay.

3.  The same goes for women's rights.  When are we going to make it okay to be a woman in this nation?  When are women going to be afforded the same respect and pay as men?  With so many GOP men fumbling about God's Plan for Conception, Abortion, Legitimate Rape, Equal Pay, and Birth Control, it begs the question:  When are we as a nation going to stop listening to men about these issues and listen to what women have to say?  Any candidate, who feels the traditional role of family excludes women's input on the above issues cannot expect to receive my vote.  Ever.

4.  It's the Economy, Stupid.  Like it or not, I am swayed by the left when it comes to the economic state of our nation.  I admit my bias.  I believe President Obama has done the near impossible.  He literally helped to avoid another Great Depression.  He continued the policies started by G.W. Bush (but actually got people to pay their loans back) and stopped the economic free-fall the U.S. had started.  Think of this:

a)  The unemployment promises he made were based on inaccurate numbers.  we had the wrong numbers, which meant his estimates of what could be done were off.  This wasn't anyone's fault---not even G.W. Bush's.  However, the GOP, blindly following the TEA Party, seemed to blame it on President Obama.

b)  Congress actually said in public (Lindsay Graham) their first priority was to deny President Obama a second term.  Not jobs, not economic recovery.  Just refusing to work with the President.  The weight of that statement is simply staggering.  The Republicans in these past two sessions have yet to propose a single jobs bill.

c) Congress happily raised the debt ceiling dozens of times for G.W. Bush, but suddenly stopped when it came to President Obama, projecting to the American Public that the Deficit and the debt ceiling were essentially the same thing.  Way to exploit ignorance.

d) Mitt Romney has said many times his economic plan can get the U.S. Solvent in 8-10 years, attempting to map out a Paul Ryan presidency in the years to come.  However, he blames President Obama for not fixing anything to his satisfaction with the above conditions and struggles which were very real in the past four years.  This is basic hypocrisy.

e)  In spite of all of these problems, President Obama's attempts have started to help create jobs and reduce unemployment.  Solindra? I reject the premise.  Of the 65 companies which benefited from the same money Solindra did (which subsequently failed), 92% are still in business and solvent.  92%.  How do you like them apples?

5)  Foreign Policy.  There has been a lot of coverage of  Ambassador Stevens, who was killed in Libya.  That is problematic, and it is a true tragedy.  My question is this:  Where was the GOP outrage and cries for administration investigations for the dozens, yes dozens of consulate employees killed abroad under G.W. Bush's administration?  The fact is because it is an election year, we are hearing the GOP attack President Obama for something which happened a lot more times while President G.W. Bush was in office.  It is of course how the GOP plays the game.  [sideline: The GOP also plays itself up to be the Military's greatest friend, but G.W. Bush routinely reduced military and veteran's benefits.  Remember, I know because I am a veteran and I get letters telling me what my benefits are  and are not on a regular basis.]  So if I don't count that, I won't allow President Obama credit for Osama Bin Ladin.  It was, after all, a national effort and he simply happened to be in the White House when it happened.  So what can I say?  President Obama restored our international integrity.  Yes, he did.  He soooooo did.  A lot of nations and people of other nations like the U.S. again because President Obama does is not an arrogant shit-heel to them.  He proves the U.S. can enforce it's foreign policy without being ass-hats.

6)  Racism.  Let's face it.  Not all Republicans are racists and  I would not even go as far to say a very large percentage of republicans are racists, but you have to admit those people who are racists in this, the 21st Century, align themselves with the Republican Party by in large (if they are not even more to the extreme right on the political spectrum) and that is simply disturbing.  It says something very powerful about the Republican party for tolerating those people to be a part of their ranks.  And let's not forget the TEA Party consists of Republicans or people who think the GOP is not doing enough for them.  Why do I bring this up?  Because of all the many signs which equated President Obama with Hitler,The Joker, and labeled him a foreign national.  We simply have not moved as far as we need to, and I am not going to let this nation stagnate if I can at all help it.

So go ahead, those of you who disagree with me.  Tell me my devotion is less or misguided simply because my politics are different.  Challenge my patriotism because I am a liberal. Tell yourself I am not educated, or I have been duped if it makes you feel better.  But if my politics frighten you so, then maybe the problem isn't with me.  It would truly be unfortunate to lose friends over this, but if that is the price for my convictions, there's the door.  Show yourself out.

Strange

Right now I am reading Jeffrey Skinner's book, The 6.5 Practices of Moderately Successful Poets and I am struck by some advice he gives early on in the book. 

He states among other things:  Give Yourself Goals.  Have a plan.  I will edit a manuscript by this date. 

That last thing there is strange because I actually gave myself a goal to have written and be finished with a manuscript by the end of 2012.  I had given myself this deadline in order to capitalize on my energy and desire to write a manuscript detailing a lot of the stories I had heard about my home town while growing up, and many more on top of that. 

Wait.  That's not the strange part.  The strange part is that I ended up writing a book which was entirely different than the one I imagined.  My original idea was to explore the narrative poem, with small, lyric poems to be placed intermittently throughout the book.  What ended up happening is a book of lyric poetry with narrative elements in a good deal of the poems.

 As it turned out, the harder I squeezed my brain to wrap itself around the task of writing these narrative poems, the more I slipped into the groove of writing lyric poems.  I was, in effect, writing a book behind my own back.  In  the end I have a manuscript which will be ready to submit by January, 2013.  I can hardly wait to start gathering my stack of rejection slips and for that one special acceptance note.


More news soon on the publishing front, I am certain.  Trust me, it's good news.

Po-Biz: The Dreary

I have just spent the better part of the past two hours researching local (to Utah) presses and writing query letters on the off chance (really off chance) some of these smaller presses will be willing to take a chance by considering a poetry manuscript.  I know my chances are not that good, but this is the place I find myself because the book I have written has a much better chance of being appealing to people from the Utah area. 

So picture me, sitting here while my student have study hours (because we are on a testing schedule and half my student are testing during class) dutifully writing query letters aimed specifically at one press or the other.  The good news is I can honestly say all of the presses received a sincere letter.  One in particular, which likes to focus on the West and seems to be interested in Utah was a real pleasure to query to when all was said and done.  I even offered to send them a pdf of my manuscript even if they weren't interested in publishing poetry.  They just seemed to have a sincerity I liked.  Not to say the other places weren't sincere, but their focus seemed to be a really good fit. 

Besides, I don't really know how to write a 'form' query letter.  I just don't know how people do it.  I don't know whether it feels like cheating to do that, or if I really want to talk directly to the people on the other end of my giant e-mail machine, but I do.  I don't think it's a fear of form letters because I will write form submission letters when I have a really big push, but query letters seem to be a different animal altogether.  I think because when I write a query letter it's usually to a place not really comfortable with poetry publication and I see part of my job as putting them at ease as much as I can, convincing them I am not some holed  up writer who writes about his 'feelings.'  I am in a way, selling myself with query letters which doesn't happen with your standard submission letters.  Well, at least not mine.

It's got me thinking.  I may even have to amend my submission policy for Hobble Creek Review.  I may have to start insisting on cover letters.  I think it is becoming increasingly important to stress courtesy and manners among writers.  So many are entirely rude and cold with their submissions, expecting I will be thrilled that __________________ finally decided to submit a few poems.  A cover letter, even a mass produced cover letter requires some effort, some care.

Take care, those of you who still read blogs.

Coming Down off My Writer High

It's happening now. 

I am getting to the point where I am going to be able to see my poems as the raw material I need for a book. I am starting to see the flaws in my poems, the little imperfections which serve to annoy me rather than please me.  In short, I am falling out of love with my recent manuscript.

That's right.  When I first finished my manuscript I was still high on the contact buzz with writing a helluva lot of poems in a relatively short period of time.  I was floating.  I was a spaced out cowboy with no reference point to the earth.  I was absolutely convinced I was adding to the oeuvre of my lifes work with a bold, significant stroke.  This book was not going to be my opus, but it was going to be my announcement that my choice to write about rural America was not a whim, and certainly not a passing fancy.   

Now I still think what I have written is among my best writing ever, but I am getting more realistic.  I am starting to see my book from a more objective point of view, and I am beginning to reach my saturation point---that point where I can stop writing these kinds of poems in favor of new work and not feel as if I am neglecting my manuscript.  It is there where my poems will harden, sharpen, and run themselves through the crucible of the critical eye.

I have my manuscript out to several readers, and as they send back word, give me their impressions, I am able to accept what they say without automatic rejection.  The same goes for poems being sent out to journals.  I am doing the work that needs doing.  Even in the face of my mentor who asked about who my audience is supposed to be (because I am alienating those who would logically be my audience) I was able to say, "I am not interested in writing the book that can get published.  I am concerned with writing the book that needs to be written."  My thought?  Why can my book be both of those things?  And that is what I am going to find out in the coming months.

Update: Hobble Creek Almanac & other such nonsense

I have been plenty busy as of late.  Mostly, I have been busy with revisions to my manuscript.  A big "Thank You" goes out to the readers (to be named at a later date) who have really been kicking my butt to help make my poems their very best.  I have the good fortune to also have friends from my home town telling me to "keep it real" when talking about certain issues within historic context.

Major changes include: 

Getting rid of poems which are too prosaic.
Changing the tone and structure of some poems to reflect a more realistic attitude.
Writing a few new poems to put into context things not as of yet adequately stated.
Standardizing the formatting for consistency and best effect.
Spelling and punctuation (always, always spelling and punctuation).

I have also the pleasure of announcing to you nine of the poems in my collection have been accepted for publication---always a reason to celebrate.  I have hopes that at least 10-12 more poems will be accepted before I start submitting my manuscript, though I will not be submitting this manuscript to any contest.  As you are well aware, I am becoming less and less enchanted with the contest scene.  reading Fees are okay, but contests are losing their luster with me in many ways.

* * *

I just returned from my 25th high school reunion.  That makes me 43 years old for those of you who like to keep track of such things.  I had a really good time, as did my wife.  For those of you who are hesitant to attend any of your reunions, maybe you should look at them this way:  They are an evening out with people who started with the same set of experiences as you in a general way and have grown up with entirely divergent experiences.  They are excuses for having a good meal, and a drink or two (even though I don't drink) with some old friends.

I had a really great time talking to these people, many of whom (perhaps because of age) are not on Facebook or the like.  To tell the truth, I had such a great time with them, I wish I could get with many of them every year, not just every five years or so.  The world may have grown old and weary, but I have not, and my friends from high school have not either.  If any classmates are reading this, then let me say "Thank you" right here and now.  I had a great time and I owe that to you.